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Brain Games: Can they fix my memory?

I hear it almost every day: my patients LOVE Sudoku and Luminosity. They just beam with pride while sharing how much they’ve improved their brain game, well, game. They see the increases as proof that they are “training” their brains, “using it rather than losing it,” and “getting smarter” but I’m not so sure.

They’re getting better at the games but are they truly improving their day-to-day attention and memory skills?

According to a recent article in theNew York Times – the research is unclear, “while players do get better, the increase in skill hasn’t been shown to transfer to other tasks…it doesn’t make you better at math or help you remember names or where you left your car keys.” The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is encouraging research in the area so we should have some answers soon.

Meanwhile , the good news is that we DO know that aerobic exerciseis good for the brain – it actually creates new brain cells!